WATERLOO (KWWL) -- There are new charges the state missed warning signs of 21 mentally challenged men living in appaling conditions and working for about 44-cents an hour at West Liberty Foods meatpacking plant.
A brother of one of the mentally disabled men told the Des Moines Register he made a complaint in 2007. But he says the state dismissed it becasue the house where the men lived was not a liscensed care facility.
A look inside the "bunkhouse" where the men lived is appalling. Ceilings caving in, electrical outlets overloaded, pad-locked doors, boarded up windows, moldy furniture and a lingering smell. The only heating source: Space heaters. Last week, the State Fire Marshal closed down the 106-year-old bunkhouse operated by Henry's Turkey Service. Exceptional Persons, Inc. in Waterloo is now caring for the 21 disabled workers.[/qupte]
KWWL.com - News & Weather for Waterloo, Dubuque, Cedar Rapids & Iowa City, Iowa | Inside "Bunkhouse"
Iowa recently had this scandal of mentally disabled men from Texas being used pretty much as slave labor at a small town turkey operation.